Search Suggestions

Share:

Ascorbic acid, a highly marketed common nutrient (thankfully), is an essential vitamin that helps our bodies maintain connective tissues. We’re talking skin, blood vessels, and bones. We know it to be present in citrus fruits and in food products with labels that say they have vitamin C. Let’s take a moment to appreciate mass consumerism.

What happens to your body if you don’t get enough vitamin C?Well, there’s scurvy. It’s a disease you get from severe vitamin C deficiency and it’s not pretty. Symptoms include fatigue, gum disease and loosening of teeth, bleeding through the skin, poor wound healing, and dryness of the eyes and mouth.

Before you start juicing those oranges, know that scurvy is not common in developed countries. If you eat a balanced diet, you likely get your vitamin C here and there. Many fruits and vegetables are rich in vitamin C. However, cooking and processing can destroy vitamins in food, so it’s hard to say whether we’re getting enough of the recommended daily allowance from that alone. You may already be taking it as a daily supplement and for that, we salute you. If you aren’t yet, it’s a great idea to start with Illuminous White Rass-Cee Sodium Ascorbate.

What kind of health benefits can I get with vitamin C?

There’s a voice in our head that says “take your vitamin C so you won’t catch a cold.” Unfortunately, science does not exactly back this up. Recent findings only tell us that vitamin C helps boost the immune system, which might help the body fend off a viral illness, but that says nothing about the direct role of the vitamin in cold prevention.

Is there such a thing as too much Vitamin C?Yes. You’re not supposed to consume more than 2000 milligrams of vitamin C in a day. While any excess vitamin C will be excreted in urine, it can also cause stomach upset, vomiting, diarrhea, and dizziness. Prolonged overdosage can even cause kidney stones!

The average nonsmoker needs around 60 milligrams of vitamin C per day. Smokers need even more, though vitamin C alone doesn’t really cancel out the harmful effects of smoking.

It’s also important to note that vitamin C is water-soluble, which means it’s only in your body for a short period of time. Vitamin C needs to be replenished in order for your body to maximize its benefits. So go ahead and take that vitamin!Where do you get your daily dose of vitamin C? Comment your answers here or tag us on Facebook or Instagram @iamclaireph!